2. Peter (Petrus) took his
name from ‘rock’ (petra), that is, from Christ, on whom the Church is
founded. Now petra is not given its name from Petrus, but Petrus
from petra, just as ‘Christ’ is so called not from ‘Christian,’ but
‘Christian’ from ‘Christ.’ Therefore the Lord says (Matthew 16:18), “Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church,” because Peter had
said (Matthew 16:16), “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then the
Lord said to him, “Upon this rock” which you have proclaimed “I will build my
church,” for (I Corinthians 10:4) “the rock was Christ,” on which foundation
even Peter himself was built. 3. He was called Cephas because he was
established as the head (caput) of the apostles, for κεφαλη in Greek means ‘head,’ and Cephas is
the Syrian name for Peter. 4. Simon‘ Bar-Jonah’ in our tongue means “son of a
dove,” and is both a Syrian and a Hebrew name, for Bar in the Syrian
language is “son,” ‘Jonah’ in Hebrew is “dove,” and Bar-Jonah is composed of
both languages. 5. Some people simply take it that Simon, that is Peter, is the
son of John, because of that question (John 21:15), “Simon of John, lovest thou
me?” – and they consider it corrupted by an error of the scribes, so that Bar-Iona
was written for Bar-Iohannes, that is, ‘son of John,’ with one syllable
dropped. ‘Johanna’ means “grace of the Lord.” 6. So Peter was three-named:
Peter, Cephas, and Simon Bar-Jonah; further ‘Simon’ in Hebrew means “he who listens.”
(The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville [trans. Stephen A. Barney, W. J.
Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006], 168-69)